South Coombe Holiday Cottages

The farmhouse at South Coombe dates back to the 1600’s. It is literally built from straw and mud, mixed together to make “Cob” – a traditional West Country building material. It has no foundations and relies to a large extent on the thickness of the walls to stop it from sinking into the ground.

When originally built, it would have been just one storey and completely open inside. The owners would have lived inside, along with all of their farm animals.

In its heyday South Coombe was a 250 acre farm owned by The Earl of Portsmouth. Since then, amongst other things, it has been used as an evacuation site during the world wars.

All the cottages grouped around the farmhouse are converted from farm buildings, the latest being Orchard Cottage. It was originally built as a shelter for the farm carriages and equipment and, up until 2006, was home to our ducks.